Cong plans trip to boost morale of NRC ‘left-out citizens’      

GUWAHATI: A high-level delegation of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) will undertake a bus trip across Assam in four phases this month to build confidence of Indian citizens whose names were not included in the final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The decision to undertake the extensive tour by the team comprising as many as 57 members including senior leaders, MPs, MLAs, was taken at the joint sitting of Assam PCC and Assam Congress Legislature Party held last Saturday.

Announcing this at a media conference here on Wednesday, APCC president, Ripun Bora said that the party would take stock of the post-NRC final list publication scenario across Assam, including Barak Valley, and that the tour by bus would begin on September 13 and culminate on September 28, 2019.

“The delegation will create awareness among the people excluded from NRC and sensitize them about the various procedures of the appeal provisions for those Indians whose names did not appear in the NRC final list. Besides, the team will also reiterate the commitment of the Congress to ensure that the names of every Indian citizen would be included in the NRC,” Bora, who will be leading the delegation, said.

During the first phase (September 13 to 15), the APCC delegation will travel to places like Tinsukia, Dhola, Jagun (Upper Assam) and Nagaon, Lumding and Rupahi in central Assam.

The team will meet people in Bijni, Dhubri, Bongaigaon and Kamrup district in the second phase (September 20-21) before moving to Barak Valley in the third phase (September 23-26). The trip ends in Sonitpur district in the fourth phase (September 28).

As it is, the APCC president said that legal cells of the party have been activated across districts and blocks to guide people on the appeal filing procedures. “This trip and interaction will only be an extension of that and make the confidence-building exercise more visible among people. We will be taking lawyers along with us as well to explain the legal procedures,” Bora said.